Main Bhi Muslim

Main Bhi Muslim™
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'Main Bhi Muslim' the podcast is a conversational space for individuality and diversity within the context of being an Indian, a Muslim and everything in between. www.mainbhimuslim.com

  1. APR 5

    EP40 - Paving her own road towards selfhood

    This MBM conversation is with Safiya Bano, a resident of Golconda Hyderabad, who is a businesswoman and beneficiary of the non-profit, SAFA’s training and micro-finance initiative. Before being supported by SAFA, Safiya worked relentlessly for 20 years, starting from stitching shirt buttons to learning to make and sell washing powder. She has single-handedly supported the education and well-being of her five children, refusing to budge to a bad marriage and taking steps to look after herself and her children despite societal constraints and economic hardships. This conversation is a window to her life and story that showcases how sheer determination and grit to survive helped Safiya navigate life, but also in her own words, having faith in Allah and not dwelling on the past, has helped her take one step after another. Through SAFA, Safiya was able to get a small loan to start her own clothing business, which she hopes to scale with a bigger loan and better investment strategies over the coming years. About SAFA: * Website: https://www.safaindia.org/ * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/safaindia * Linktree: https://linktr.ee/safango Related MBM episode: MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

    54 min

  2. MAR 7

    EP39 - Charting one's own path & building SAFA

    This MBM conversation is with social entrepreneur Rubina Nafees Fatima who is the Founder & Director of Hyderabad-based non-profit SAFA. For nearly 20 years, SAFA has been instrumental in supporting economically and socially marginalised communities in Hyderabad, through education, skill training, livelihoods, placements, and community wellbeing initiatives. How Rubina decided to start SAFA and her journey up until then is what we discuss in this episode. From her early beginnings growing across different parts of the country, being raised by a progressive father, recognising the dissonance between her family’s values and societal norms, and sticking to her north star at every stage of her life. Now in her sixties, Rubina continues to dream towards expanding SAFA’s work and impact, and in her own words is ‘raring to go.’ This Women’s Day, do give this episode a listen. About SAFA: * Website: https://www.safaindia.org/ * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/safaindia * Linktree: https://linktr.ee/safango Episode notes: * To learn more about the Islamic story of Safa and Marwa - Following Haajar’s Footsteps to a Feminist Reading of Islam (Aneesa Bodiat, JSTOR Daily, October 2019) * Crossing the River Musi: The Identity and Agency of Women | Rubina Nafees Fatima (TEDxHyderabad, April 2025) * Hyderabad: ‘Only 5% Muslims in Old City slums pursue higher edu’, says survey (The Siasat Daily, March 2023) * 37 percent of women are single bread earners for families of which 43 percent are widows, 22 percent are divorced and 37 percent are single women abandoned by spouses. * Hijab ban: Karnataka high court upholds government order on headscarves (BBC, March 2022) MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

    1h 3m

  3. FEB 1

    EP38 - Discussing caste-consciousness & inner lives of a community

    This MBM conversation is with Aiman Haque, a Delhi based researcher and writer. Through her years of growing up, working and having family across different parts of the country, Aiman shares how language, caste, history and local cultures have shaped her sense of identity and belonging. We discuss how caste manifests within Muslim communities, especially during arranged marriage discussions or in the choice of words used to address certain sections of the community. We also discuss the value of understanding the inner lives of Muslim women, in order to truly address the needs of the community as a whole. Aiman also shares what it takes to have spaces that are caste-conscious and compassionate towards every person, and find ways to expand opportunities and sense of belonging in more ways than one. Episode notes: * Panel 5: Counter-Narratives to Majoritarianism | Counter-Narratives: The MHI Conference 2025 (YouTube, Mariwala Health Initiative, April 2025) * The forgotten riots of Bhagalpur, In Pictures (Javed Iqbal, Al Jazeera, December 2014) * Caste and social stratification among Muslims in India (edited by Imtiaz Ahmad, Aakar Books, April 2018) * The political life of Muslim caste: articulations and frictions within a Pasmanda identity (Shireen Azam, Contemporary South Asia, July 2023) * Kerala hijab row: How a dispute between a teen and her school became a state-wide debate (Haritha Manav, The News Minute, October 2025) * The Indian development sector has got diversity hiring all wrong (Aiman Haque, The Caravan, January 2024) * Mental Health Is Political: Institutional Violence, Marginalisation And Mental Health Policies At Work (Aiman Haque, Feminism In India, May 2022) MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

    1h 13m

  4. 10/26/2025

    EP37 - Examining Muslim representation in post-colonial Hindi cinema

    This MBM conversation is with Nadira Khatun, author of the book ‘Postcolonial Bollywood and Muslim Identity: Production, Representation, and Reception’. Through this book, Nadira traces the representation of Muslim characters within Hindi cinema in post-partition India, and how the socio-political and economic factors have contributed to varied representations across decades. We discuss the influence of Bollywood on our own personal upbringings, how cinematic representations contributed to the majoritarian perceptions of the Muslim identity and its interactions with us. From films like Mughal-e-Azam and Mammo to Gully Boy and Superboys of Malegaon, we talk about the evolution of Muslim characters and what would it take to make a movie with a truly effortless Muslim representation that does not fulfil any expectation or stereotype. We also discuss the many failings of Hindi film-makers in representing Muslim women - who were either exoticised or oppressed, leaving us with the hope that there is a whole world to cover when it comes to exciting possibilities in the space of truly bebaak representations. About Nadira Khatun Nadira Khatun is associate professor at School of Communications, XIM University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. She was visiting assistant professor at McMaster University, Hamilton from January 2021 to January 2022. She has contributed to academic journals and edited volumes on social media, Bollywood and Muslim identity. Her book tilted, Postcolonial Bollywood and Muslim Identity: Production, Representation, and Reception was released in August 2024 with Oxford University Press, UK. Email address of corresponding author: nadira.khatun@gmail.com Episode notes: * ‘Exoticised, alienised, villainised’: A book looks at how Muslims have been portrayed in Hindi films (Nandini Ramnath, Scroll, June 2025) * Ghettoisation, Crime and Punishment in Mumbai (Abdul Shaban, Economic and Political Weekly, 2008) * Jain, Ranu, and Shaban, Abdul (1999). Socio Economic and Educational Status of Muslims in Mumbai. A Research Report, Submitted to the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission. Mumbai: Government of Maharashtra. * Bombay Cinema’s Islamicate Histories (Edited by Ira Bhaskar and Richard Allen, The University of Chicago Press, 2021) * To Be Seen Whole: Blackness, Muslimness, and the Politics of Art (Topibechwa’s Substack, May 2025) * Links to certain films discussed in the conversation: * Mammo (1994) * Garm Hava (1974) * Mughal-e-Azam (1960) * Umrao Jaan (1981) * Pakeezah (1972) * Bebaak (2018) * Dhadak 2 (2025) * Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro (1989) * Gully Boy (2019) * Darlings (2022) * Superboys of Malegaon (2024) * Supermen of Malegaon (2008) * Jawan (2023) * Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) * Coolie (1983) MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

    1h 17m

  5. 09/14/2025

    EP36 - Nurturing a resilient future through faith, memory and community

    This MBM conversation with Zara Chowdhary, author of the memoir The Lucky Ones - a survivor’s account of the 2002 Gujarat Pogrom. The book is a deeply personal story of Zara and her family whose roots and history are entwined within the soil and soul of the Indian subcontinent, but also the trauma that speaks through the family, especially the women across generations. Zara’s writing is intimate, visceral and soul-stirring, with each page offering truth and dignity to every relationship she writes about, evoking a deep sense of humanity that we most often refuse to acknowledge even within ourselves. We talk about that and many other things including the ways faith informs her interactions with the people and communities she chooses to be part of. About Zara Chowdhary Zara Chowdhary is a writer and educator in the US. She has an MA in writing for performance from the University of Leeds, and an MFA in creative writing and Environment from Iowa State University. She has previously worked behind the camera for studios like Red Chillies Entertainment, Vinod Chopra Films, Eros Entertainment and others. Her debut, The Lucky Ones, a first by any survivor of the 2002 Gujarat Pogrom, released in the US last year to critical acclaim. It was a PEN America finalist, and a Time Magazine Top Ten Best Nonfiction Books of the Year, as well as a Best Book by NPR, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, People Magazine, Esquire, Electric Literature and others. In India, The Lucky Ones released in September 2024, and has become a nonfiction bestseller, winning the prestigious Shakti Bhatt Prize 2024, and currently long-listed for the Ramnath Goenka Sahitya Samman. Zara teaches creative writing and South Asian studies at the University of Iowa. MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

    1h 13m

  6. 08/17/2025

    EP35 - Making libraries & learning centres a reality within one's community

    This MBM conversation is with Shabnam Nafisa Kalim, a resident of Mustafabad - a predominantly Muslim suburban area in North-east Delhi, where she and her team of volunteers run two libraries to create a learning and educational space for their community. Mashaal Library and Amma’s Library have over the years become spaces of educational resources to prepare Mustafabad’s youngsters for competitive examinations, and support the local community through adult literacy, career counselling and mental well-being sessions. In this interaction, Shabnam also sheds light on managing internal community challenges, ensuring that libraries are acknowledged as fundamental needs for younger generation, where girls and women can spend time without being questioned by their families, and women recognise the value of their time away from family responsibilities. This kind of effort has resulted in more women coming to these libraries and encouraging others to join too. Links of the libraries: * Mashaal Library * Amma’s Library Episode notes: * Why libraries are a must in India’s public schools (Sneha Priya Yanappa and Avinash Reddy, Scroll, March 2023) * With Poor Infrastructure, Lack of Facilities Govt Schools Perform Worst Across India: Report (Ditsa Bhattacharya, NewsClick, July 2021) * Ghettoes, Religious Communities and the State - A Muslim Enclave in New Delhi (Debanjana Das, ARF India, 2022) * Delhi Riots Fact-Finding 2020 by Delhi Minorities Commission (July 2020) * The Pursuit of Dignity & Beauty in a Broken World ft. Bhumika Saraswati (Anurag Minus Verma Podcast, January 2025) * Kranti Collective MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

    1h 15m

  7. 07/20/2025

    EP34 - Decoding identity, friendships and freedoms in present times

    This MBM conversation is with Nausheen Khan, an independent film-maker based in India, whose documentary Land of My Dreams is a retracing of her journey as an Indian Muslim woman as she covered the Shaheen Bagh protests in 2019-2020. In this conversation, Nausheen shares her introspection around her identity growing up, the effect of stereotypes on her, and reclaiming her Muslimness in more ways than one. We discuss the myriad forms in which being a woman in the present times challenges us to show up with more clarity and confidence in every space we choose to be in. We also discuss the impact of friendships and the need for bonds that allow one to express the vulnerabilities one lives with, as a woman, an artist, a Muslim, among others. For Nausheen, living with joy is the biggest act of resilience and this conversation is a snippet of that. About Nausheen Khan Nausheen Khan is an independent filmmaker based in India, working on gender perspectives amid conflict and political unrest in contemporary times. Land of My Dreams is her first self-financed feature-length documentary film. It won Best Long Documentary at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, in 2023, and the Citizens' Prize at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, in 2023. Episode notes: * [Trailer] Land of My Dreams | Nausheen Khan | Documentary | Monthly Film Screening | April 2024 (Peoples Film Collective, YouTube, April 2024) * Nausheen Khan’s Land of My Dreams wins Best Long Documentary Award at IDSFFK (The Hindu, August 2023) * India: Tennis player Yadav killed by her father — reports | Tanika Godbole with DW sources (DW, July 2025) * Systems are crumbling – but daily life continues. The dissonance is real (Adrienne Matei, The Guardian, May 2025) MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

    1h 11m

  8. 05/01/2025

    EP33 - The Life of a Kaamdani Artisan

    This MBM conversation is with Shabana Bano, a Lucknow-based kaamdani artisan. Kaamdani or Mukaish as its popularly known, is intricate metal-work embroidery which requires skill, talent, time and patience to stitch patterns and designs onto fabric. For more than 15 years, Shabana ji has been making her living through this craft, has trained and supported countless women and currently has a team of 50 women artisans who work with her. In this episode, Shabana ji shares her experience learning and expanding her craft to make a living and help other working-class women pick it up too. She highlights the challenges that women participating in this kind of informal sector face, not just domestically but also socially, and how this craft has enabled an intimate self-help group, in the absence of any institutional support, dignified working rates and employee benefits. She speaks of the glaring income inequalities that exist between such artisans who earn as little as INR 150 per day (less than USD2) and certain apparel store owners and designers who price such products in thousands if not more. Shabana ji has also managed to encourage and support more women to not only take up this work but also recruit other women to learn and earn just like her. She hopes that this craft and its people receive their rightful wages and dignity to lead their lives with more resources and support. This conversation was mostly recorded in Urdu and the English transcript of it is available on MBM’s website. Link to Shabana Bano’s Instagram account which showcases her and her team’s work: https://www.instagram.com/mirza_chiken/ Shabana Bano’s phone number for any work-related queries: +91 887390 95976 Episode notes: * Short video essay on Mrs. Shabana’s work (Maroof Umar, Instagram, February 2025) * Mukaish/Badla/Metallic Embroidery of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (Asia InCH, Encyclopedia of Living Heritage) * Indian Sequins: A Jeweled Textile of India (Tooba Fatma, International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research, October 2024) * Amazon launched a program for Indian handicrafts. Local artisans say it’s not working (Nipun Prabhakar, Rest of World, October 2024) MBM visual identity design by Shazia Salam || Music by Jupneet Singh This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mainbhimuslim.com

    52 min
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'Main Bhi Muslim' the podcast is a conversational space for individuality and diversity within the context of being an Indian, a Muslim and everything in between. www.mainbhimuslim.com

Information

  • Creator
    Main Bhi Muslim™
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    41
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Main Bhi Muslim
  • Show Website
    Main Bhi Muslim